Brooklyn’s Sea Sick has been garnering some attention around their home base for spellbinding live shows, and it’s easy to see why. Their music is low on radio-friendly hooks, high on sweltering theatrics. Almost any song on here sounds epic even though only a couple cross the four-minute mark. That’s not to say they drag—it means that there’s no pop repetition. The songs are expansive and dusky, space enough for a fair amount of crunch and psychedelic curiosity. Not many will find you singing along but that’s okay. When Sea Sick are firing on all cylinders, they hypnotize the listener—we don’t have a chance to memorize each corner.
As chief songwriter, guitarist and singer, Jasmine Golestaneh is the group’s focal point. Her Latvian/Persian heritage gives her voice a mysterious lilt without being overtly accented. She can draw out a monotone as easily as she can wail for the rafters. And her guitar is dark, distorted and undulating, rarely calling attention to itself as a simple tool to crank out a riff or two. Sam Levin’s drums will likely go mostly unnoticed—they’re understated and deceptively simple. And Geoffrey Lee’s keyboards are never overbearing, instead opting to add flourishes rather than driving a tune. Somehow, all three musicians seem to fly under the radar, quietly bringing force that never smacks of showman posing. That they could all be exceptionally gifted and inconspicuous is nothing short of stunning.
“Devil on Her Palms” begins the album on sure footing. Cross the emotional wallop of early PJ Harvey with the tinny space rock climaxes of Failure’s first LP and you might get an idea. “Octopus” has a droning, tribal sound, with Doors-esque keyboards filling in the gaps. “Radio” alternates between spare atmospherics and bright light cacophony. The trip-hop tinged epic “Come for the Fall” coasts along a reverberating guitar buzz and repeating keyboard stingers. “XX” is a musical showcase with a dynamite cross-cutting guitar and bass key combo; one of the heaviest and headiest of the set. And closer “Black Cat” is a spare, semi-acoustic number with subtle martial crescendos. Standing above it all is Golestaneh, who treats the vocals with equal parts Jim Morrison, Patti Smith and Corin Tucker. Those pipes are among the most appealing, sensual and haunting to appear on the scene in some years.
Although I haven’t seen Sea Sick live, I doubt that this recording does them appropriate justice. For a self-released debut EP, it’s nothing short of revelatory, but these musicians are all clearly talented and seeing them in person could only add to their music’s radiant mystique. And for a debut, it’s all remarkably self-assured and refined, the work of a trio who’d been on the scene for a decade or more. This isn’t merely promising—all promise is fulfilled right here. Anyone interested in darkly magnetic psychedelia and emotionally primal rock music needs to snatch this up as soon as they can…and probably catch them live right away, too.
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